We were supposed to drop Jet off at 9:30am at the Staples Center for her FIDM graduation. Of course, we got there at 8:35am and Jet was one of the 1st 10 in the building! The Staples Center didn't open to invited guests until 10:30am so Bruce and I went exploring. We took video of Jet's apartment and church building. Here they are:
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Jet's L.A. Apartment and Church
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
FIDM and Santa Monica Beach
The day before Jet's graduation, we toured FIDM then went to Santa Monica Beach and Pier. Here are some videos.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
After the Graduation
The hardest part of the whole graduation was finding your own relatives after the ceremony. We finally found Jet, but would have been lost forever without cell phones!
Monday, June 16, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI WILSON’S CREEK BATTLEFIELD
The highlight for my church-history-buff husband was the trip to the Springfield battlefield. In 1861 the Missouri General Assembly created the Missouri State Guard to defend the state from attacks from perceived enemies, either from the North or South. The governor appointed Sterling Price to be its general.
The Battle of Wilson's Creek was fought on 10 Aug 1861 near Springfield, Missouri between union forces led by Nathaniel Lyon and the Missouri State Guard. It was the first major battle of the war west of the Mississippi River. Price and his local militia were triumphant. Nathaniel Lyon was the first Union General to die in battle during the Civil War at the Battle of Wilson's Creek.
Now to why this was so interesting to Bruce:
• Sterling Price, General of the Missouri State Guard:
o On November 9th, 1838, Colonel Sterling Price and a force of seventy men took Joseph Smith and his companions to Richmond, Missouri for trial, which resulted in Joseph’s imprisonment at Liberty Jail. Parley P. Pratt recorded in his autobiography: "It was one of these tedious nights we had lain as if in sleep until the hour of mid-nite had passed, and our ears and hearts had been pained, while we listened for hours to the obscene jests and horrid oaths, the dreadful blasphemies and filthy language of our guards, Colonel Price at their head, as they recounted to each other their deeds of rapine, murder and robbery which they had committed among the Mormons, while at Far West and vicinity. They even boasted of defiling by force, wives and daughters and virgins, or of shooting and dashing out the brains of men, women and children. I had listened until I became so disgusted, shocked and horrified and filled with the spirit of indignant justice that I could scarcely refrain from rising on my feet and rebuking the guards, but had said nothing to Joseph, or anyone else, although, I lay next to him and knew that he was awake. On a sudden he rose to his feet and as near as I can recollect, spoke the following words: "Silence, ye Fiends of the infernal pit! …”
• “Order 11” and its effects were both posted and discussed. Bruce has always thought that Order 11 was retribution on some Missourians for their treatment of the Mormons. General Order No. 11 is the title of the 25 August 1863 Union Army order in the American Civil War that forced the evacuation of the rural areas of four counties in Missouri. The order was approved by Abraham Lincoln, but was carried out by vigilantes. Painter George Caleb Bingham, described the events:
"It is well-known that men were shot down in the very act of obeying the order, and their wagons and effects seized by their murderers. Large trains of wagons, extending over the prairies for miles in length, and moving Kansasward, were freighted with every description of household furniture and wearing apparel belonging to the exiled inhabitants. Dense columns of smoke arising in every direction marked the conflagrations of dwellings, many of the evidences of which are yet to be seen in the remains of seared and blackened chimneys, standing as melancholy monuments of a ruthless military despotism which spared neither age, sex, character, nor condition. There was neither aid nor protection afforded to the banished inhabitants by the heartless authority which expelled them from their rightful possessions. They crowded by hundreds upon the banks of the Missouri River, and were indebted to the charity of benevolent steamboat conductors for transportation to places of safety where friendly aid could be extended to them without danger to those who ventured to contribute it. "
Some visitors at the exhibit said that many displaced Missourians ended up in Texas.
BRANSON, MISSOURI
Since the grandsons weren’t in Texas for our annual Galveston beach trip, Bruce and I went to Branson. We did it up right, seeing 8 shows in 5 days. Here they are in my ranking order (Bruce’s is slightly different): SIX, Acrobats of Shanghai, Spirit of the Dance, 12 Irish Tenors, Broadway, Legends in Concert, Shoji Tabuchi Show, 50’s at the Hop. We decided to go to SIX when we saw all six brothers on Sunday standing in the circle to confirm a show staff member who had just been baptized. The BEST BRANSON MUSIC is heard during the 2nd Ward Priesthood opening exercises where the Six, Lowe Family, Brett Family, & Hughes Family combine voices and try to follow the ever changing keys played by Andy Williams’ pianist/arranger.
Walmart Headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas
Bruce and I went to Branson for a boondoggle combined with work at Walmart Headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. I was surprised – no austere, high-rise buildings. Headquarters is just a big bunch of humble, single story brick buildings spread over miles and miles of rolling land. Warehouses, parking lots, and a plethora of trucks dot the landscape as well. It was humbly impressive. Bruce felt like the trip was a big success. Road kill in Arkansas (and Missouri) is usually armadillos!
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